Courthouse shooter was accused of keeping teen in shed for sex, prosecutor says
The Michigan prisoner who shot and killed two bailiffs at the Berrien County courthouse Monday had been arrested for keeping a teen in a shed for about two weeks where he raped her and videotaped the crimes, prosecutors say.
Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic released details of the charges against Larry Darnell Gordon of Coloma on Wednesday, WOODTV, FOX17, MLive.com and the Detroit News report. Gordon was shot and killed by responding officers on Monday after he grabbed a deputy’s gun and began firing, killing the two bailiffs and wounding two others.
Police had discovered the 17-year-old girl in the shed when they went to Gordon’s home in April to serve a domestic-violence warrant, according to a press release. The teen told police that Gordon had held her against her will, raped her, given her methamphetamine, and assaulted her with weapons and by strangulation.
An investigation led to allegations of a previous incident involving similar conduct by Gordon with a 16-year-old victim in 2006, according to the press release. No charges had been brought yet in connection with the prior incident.
If Gordon had been convicted of the latest charges, which included sexual assault and kidnapping, his minimum sentence could have been as high as 18 to 62 years in prison. He was in court on Monday for dismissal of the original domestic violence charge due to the more serious charges.
The slain bailiffs were identified as Joseph Zangaro and Ronald Kienzle. Both were former police officers.
Gordon had served time in federal and state prison over the last two decades, the Detroit Free Press reports. His past convictions were for possession of pipe bombs, for fleeing police, for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and for stealing fireworks.
Gordon was living with his ex-wife when police went to his home to serve the domestic violence warrant. The ex-wife, Jessica Gordon, told the Detroit Free Press she believes Gordon tried to escape because he feared he would not see his young daughter again.
“Larry was not a violent person,” she said. “He probably found out how much time he could potentially be looking at and wanted to get out to see us.”
Typo corrected on July 15.
